THE COLOSSAL CHRISTMAS HAM OF 2022

I am a little late putting this together. But, how was everyone’s holiday season?  Ours was nice, although, it didn’t feel like Christmas this year. We didn’t even get a tree, but I did put up some garland and I made a wreath from fresh pine boughs. (our neighbor gave us some pine boughs and I made a wreath like I used to make with my mother.  It felt very nostalgic).  We do not usually exchange gifts, and this year was no different.  But somehow, it felt a little sad that we were not doing a gift exchange.  I can’t really put words to why it felt this way. I suppose it’s just the feeling you get when living abroad and you are miles from being able to celebrate holidays like you remember. Daily life is fantastic, but Holidays can be tough.

This year was also a little different as we got to host the family meal!  Usually we go to Dirk’s parents for Holiday meals, but this year his mom informed us that it would be at our house.  Now this was exciting news! It was my time to shine!  I LOVE to cook, and I also LOVE to have people over for dinner.  I got to work planning the menu.

Dirk and I discussed ideas for the menu.  I tend to want to cook like I am still in the States, LOTS of side dishes, several desserts, and a few Mains. Food, so much food.  Leftovers for days! Leftovers to send home with guests. A huge, decadent display of food!

However,  Dirk talked me down from the cliffs of insanity, and we did plan a more German style meal.

Except for his idea to have a Christmas ham.

Dirk really enjoyed the honey baked, spiral cut Christmas hams that we have in the States.  They just aren’t a thing here in Germany.  So much so, that you can’t even find that cut of meat at the butcher.  We tried asking at several local butchers in our area, none could/would get that cut of meat for us. We almost lost hope, but then he found an online butcher site that was able to get us a fresh ham, and deliver it to the house right before Christmas. Perfect.  I left him to it, and Dirk placed the order.

Soon after, he received the confirmation that the order was placed, and received.  It would indeed arrive just days before the holiday.  All 14kgs of it.  Yes, my husband ordered a 14kg ham for Christmas.

It might be a good time to mention that we have a very small family, and on top of that, Cheyenne and I do not eat pork.  That left only 3 people that would be eating the Colossal Christmas Ham of 2022.  Also, for my American friends and Family, 14kg is nearly 30 pounds.  This cut of meat was the size of a small child! I wasn’t sure how we would even be able to cook it!

Most household ovens in Europe are MUCH smaller than those in the States or Canada.  There was no chance that it would fit in my tiny oven.  I spoke with my Dad, and he suggested we use the BBQ grill.  A great idea, but we also have a rather small grill.  It didn’t fit, not even close, we tried. We were considering the effort it would take to build a spit and roast it over an open fire. But Dirk ended up buying a saw so that we could cut it into pieces small enough to cook.

We turned the kitchen into a small butchery so that Dirk could cut the meat into smaller pieces.I was able to fit two small roasting pans into the tiny oven, one slathered in BBQ sauce, and the other coated with mustard, honey, brown sugar and pineapple slices.(The honey baked ham). I filled the crock pot, and made a batch of pulled pork with Buffalo sauce, and we roasted the rest on the BBQ grill with sauce.  This process took us about 9 hours for it all to cook. We had spent nearly 12 hours, cutting and preparing this giant piece of meat.

My husband loved it!  And that is a good thing, because our freezers are now filled with the left overs from the Colossal Christmas Ham  of 2022!

I can’t believe that I didn’t take a photo of the finished product!  I did get this shot before some of it went into the oven.

Here’s photo of the Yule Log that Cheyenne decorated.  It was delicious!

Happy Holidays to everyone!